Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-07-28
1nE OLD STONE Soar.

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A Anss1na Aatiqaaty Lsesssa IN Co1sSl
-, Comfy, Tennessee.
II the coneentric rings in tree are .
correct index Of their Age, that mys-
;erious structure near Manchester. Cot
)ee County. Tenn. called the Old
Stone Fort is Of very ancient origin.
The trees growing on the rude stone
walls that surround the old structure
show. BY their rings. fully five hundred
years growth. These trees. Row be-
Ing cut away. aru the only witnesse. tv
the age Of the stone work. WEI their
testimony be accepted by historiansl
Will the antiquarians ever find ops who
built that old stone fors, and for what
purpose? Il any investigators wish to
examine these old trees. shey shonlado
so pretty soon. as they ara rapidly dis
appearing.
There is nothing in Tennessee. or IN
the South. whose antiquity is 80 mys-
FERROUS and entirely beyond the do
main of decent speculation ~ the Old
Stone Fort which is about one mills
AMI half below the town Of Man.
chester.
The two prongs Of Duck River come
within. say, two hundred yards Of
each other. and then widen out, max
ing > territory Of perhaps one thou
sand acres in the forks of the river.
suef below the NarrowA At the Mar
lows the fort commences by q stone
wall, now covered with earth. running
from one river to the other. and there
the walls are built along the banks or
both rivers down to a point where .
canal had been cut from one river
to the other; there = wall IL.
made from one river to the other.
perhaps quarter Of . mile. On the
outside. Of this wall is hollow. and In
this hollow is the sign Of the canal or
cut. evidently intended to protect the
fort by both the wall and the canal.
From the upper to the lower WALL
at places. there are high bluffs on both,
rivers. Wherever this bluff-preci-
?itOusis found, there is no wall. but
wherever there Is no natural barrier
the Wallis built. The entrance to the
fort was at the upper end. and the
gateways.show that the builders were
doing their work intelligently. The
cntranceis by narrow pass-way. with
walks on either side. and offsets 80 rs
the enemy on the outside from
having q direct entrance for them
selves. snd'se'ss to protect those OH the
inside from missiles from the outside.
The fort contains forty-seven acres.
and is. Or.was when the writer first
saw it heavily timbered. many of the
trees of large size growing on top of
the walls.
Colonel Sam Murray. who settled
there about 1879 cut one of the trees
from the top of the wall and found it
to be about fiae hundred years old.
One mile up ths.river from the fort is
an immense msmd-tt: largest one
perhaps in the eountry->making it
probable the fbyt was built BY the
mound-buildcrs.. Beyond this nobody
knows anything about it. Colonel
Murray. who was man IF high intel
ligence, claimets,ts have conferred with
the Indians OH different tribes, but
none Of them could give him any &C.
count of it, eithsr' by tradition or 9th
erwise.
This fort s.. one Of the many evil
dences that irn this country. at some
remote period. these was race Of
people Of mopoe STABILITY and intelli-
gence than the rowing indians whom
the first settlens found -Ndshvii!
american.